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Trial Practice Guidance Voir Dire Jury Selection

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How to Conduct Voir Dire: A Practical Guide

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The literal translation of the French phrase voir dire is “to speak the truth.” In law, it’s the process of questioning an individual prior to jury duty or witnessing to determine their suitability....more

IMS Legal Strategies

How To Make The Most Of Limited Voir Dire

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In a perfect world, counsel can accomplish many goals during voir dire—but when a judge puts a strict clock on the process, those goals quickly narrow. Whether you have 15 or 45 minutes, or some amount to be determined, only...more

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Jury Research: Methods and Best Practices

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Law students spend years training to evaluate details and learn procedures that don’t always fall under the umbrella of common sense to laypersons. The most important issues that seem obvious to attorneys can be ignored by...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Don’t Rely on Luck in Picking Your Jury

As the historic first (but not last) criminal trial of a former U.S. President was kicking off last week, Mr. Trump commented, “Jury selection is largely luck,” before moving on to his more familiar complaints about the...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Counter “Safetyism” With Realism

There is a perspective on juror attitudes that has been receiving some attention lately. “Safetyism” refers to an individual’s tendency to not merely prefer safety, but to demand unrealistic standards of protection — no...more

IMS Legal Strategies

How Safetyism Is Driving High Plaintiff Verdicts - IMS Insights Podcast Episode 68

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Our podcast guests IMS Senior Jury Consulting Advisor Dr. Jill Leibold and Senior Jury Consultant Dr. Nick Polavin share their newest safetyism research and how safetyist beliefs are driving high plaintiff verdicts—especially...more

IMS Legal Strategies

How Should I Introduce My Jury Consultant at Trial?

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Many of our clients are concerned about the perception jurors may have if they learn the attorney has hired a jury consultant to be present during jury selection. After all, most depictions of jury consultants in books,...more

IMS Legal Strategies

What Are the Standards and Procedures for Jury Selection in My Jurisdiction?

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As a national trial consulting firm, we are often asked to assist with jury selection in jurisdictions where lead counsel has been admitted pro hac vice and may not be closely familiar with the standards and procedures for...more

IMS Legal Strategies

What to Include in a Supplemental Juror Questionnaire (SJQ)

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Recent years’ events have inspired experiential and attitudinal changes among jurors across the board. The 2016 presidential election and the COVID-19 pandemic fostered a shift in attitudes about corporations, governmental...more

IMS Legal Strategies

Using Jury Research to Benefit Your Case Story & Strategy

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As most litigators know, jurors’ attitudes and opinions often influence how they filter the facts of a case. It is through these lenses that jurors develop their perceptions of the parties and their corresponding motives,...more

IMS Legal Strategies

What to Ask Before Voir Dire

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We have all shared this experience. Jury selection is at 9:00 a.m. on Monday. It is now Sunday night and the national trial team—led by an attorney from out of town—is convening to discuss voir dire and jury selection. A jury...more

Winstead PC

Voir Dire (In a Post Covid World)

Winstead PC on

David F. Johnson co-authored a paper entitled “Voir Dire (In a Post Covid World)” with Jason Smith of the Law Offices of Jason Smith for the State Bar of Texas’s Business Disputes Course, held in Austin, Texas, on September...more

Tyson & Mendes LLP

Inaugural Nuclear Verdicts Defense Institute Announced: First and Only Trial Academy for Civil Defense Attorneys Set for June...

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SAN DIEGO (March 14, 2022) – The inaugural Nuclear Verdicts Defense Institute will take place June 23-26, 2022, in San Diego, led by an esteemed faculty of legal defense experts, including top trial attorneys, a specialist in...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Avoid Social Desirability Bias in Voir Dire: Six Tips

Imagine you’re currently a citizen of the Russian Federation. The telephone rings, and the person on the other end of the line identifies themselves as a public opinion researcher, and they’re conducting a poll. “How do you...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Treat the “Reasonable Person,” Not as an Abstraction, but as an Average

The core of most determinations of negligence is the question, “What would a reasonable person have done?” And, at least in theory, this “reasonable person” isn’t supposed to be an actual person whose deeds are recorded in...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Be Tactical in Jury Selection

The voir dire process has got to be one of the most complex, information-rich, and high-stakes communication settings. To someone unfamiliar with the rituals, it won’t always be clear what is going on or why. For new...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Use Jurors’ Availability Bias

How likely is it that a corporation’s competitor could come up with a parallel product without infringing a patent? How common is it for someone to get injured on an amusement park ride? How normal would it be for someone who...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Innovate to Keep Track of Information During Voir Dire

The setting of an in-court oral voir dire can be seen as a “perfect storm” of information. Data about your panel and your potential future fact-finders is coming at you from all directions. You may have responses from a...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

(Sometimes) Reinforce a Higher Threshold for Cause Challenges

As you’re waiting your turn for voir dire, you notice that plaintiff’s counsel is getting a fair number of potential jurors to admit that they might have a bias — against lawsuits, against plaintiffs’ attorneys, against...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Add Context to Your Voir Dire

I came across a recent article in the publication Raw Story with the intriguing title, “There’s a big problem in opinion polling that mainstream media is missing” by Matt Robison. While not an academic piece, the article does...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

See the Social Roots of Bias

At the voir dire stage of a jury trial, the word “bias” gets used a lot. But do we really know what it means? The courts, in practice at least, hew to a simple meaning: If a potential juror admits to bias, that means they...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Online Trials: Learn from Arizona

Arizona may not be the model when it comes to partisan post-election audits. But when it comes to online or virtual trials, the “Cyber Ninjas” in that context seem to be doing much better. In the Grand Canyon state’s most...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Ask for a Jury Questionnaire Every Time, Especially Now

In the early preparation for a jury selection, I will often ask the team if there are plans for a supplemental juror questionnaire. Sometimes the answer is that there aren’t any such plans, and they haven’t really thought of...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Fact-Check the Misinformed, but Remember that Experiences Are as Strong as Facts

Potential jurors arrive at the courtroom with misinformation that might bear on your case. They could have opinions on scientific validity and reliability that will conflict with what your experts will tell them. They might...more

Holland & Hart - Your Trial Message

Once More, Into the Mask: Expect a Post-Pandemic Courtroom to be a Ways Off

It is as if the public health groundhog emerged from its den, saw its shadow, and now promises six more months of confusion, polarization, and pandemic fatigue. With the more-transmissible Delta variant of the Coronavirus...more

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